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Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Sting at Irving Plaza

Gordon Sumner was
born in Wallsend, England, the eldest of four children born to a hairdresser
and a milkman and engineer. As a youth, he was inspired by Queen Elizabeth II
waving at him from a Rolls-Royce to seek a more glamorous life than working in
the nearby shipyard. By age 10, he was "obsessed" with an old Spanish
guitar left by an emigrating friend of his father. As a young man, Sumner
worked by day as a bus conductor, building laborer, tax officer, and school
teacher, but in the evenings, weekends and during breaks from college and teaching,
Sumner became a jazz musician nicknamed Sting.
Moving to London, he sang and played bass in the Police from 1977 until 1984, by which time the group was one of the
biggest pop-rock bands in the world. In 2003, Sting received a CBE from Queen Elizabeth
II for services to music, and was made a Kennedy Center Honoree at the White
House in 2014. Sting's 12th solo album, 57th
& 9th, will be released November 11, 2016.

On short advance notice, Sting headlined two intimate shows
tonight at the 1000-capacity Irving
Plaza, An early show was billed as album release party and the later show
was billed as an exclusive show for Sting fan club members, although tickets
were on sale to the general public at show time. At both performances, Sting and
band opened with the Police's "Message in a Bottle" and then launched
into eight of the 10 songs from his new album, then closing with more familiar
tunes. Early in the set, Sting acknowledged yesterday's presidential elections
and asked the audience to repeat several times a British adage, "keep calm
and carry on." Then he rocked a set that sounded closer to the Police than
anything he has done in decades, highlighting songs which were written with no
lutes or flutes or other medieval instruments in mind. As he often does, Sting revealed
the inspirations for the new songs. For instance, "One Fine Day" was
about climate change; "50,000" was inspired by the recent deaths of David Bowie and Prince; "Pretty Young Soldier" was about a 19th century woman
who cross-dressed in order to join the military. The set concluded with "Englishman
in New York" and "Desert Rose" from earlier solo albums and the
Police's "Next to You" and "Every Breath You Take." For the
late show, he encored with "The Empty Chair," an acoustic song form
the new album. In all, the band was tight, Sting was in excellent voice and
spirit, the lyrics were captivating and the songs were refreshingly Sting as he
is best remembered.